1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for producing a board-shaped product having a surface comprising a decoration, in which method a decoration is printed by means of at least one printing roller unit onto a main body which is formed from a carrier board made of wood material, of laminate and/or of a compact board. The invention also relates to a device for producing a board-shaped product having a surface comprising a decoration, which device comprises at least one printing roller unit for printing a decoration onto a main body which is formed from a carrier board made of wood material, of laminate and/or of a compact board.
2. Description of Related Art
Methods and devices for printing a wood decoration directly onto wood material boards are known. In comparison with the prior art, in which decorative surfaces can be obtained on wood material boards by coating said boards with printed paper, these methods and devices offer the advantage that a counteracting layer on the back of the board is unnecessary. As a result, the production costs for corresponding wood material boards comprising a decoration can be reduced.
WO 2006/002917 A2 of the Applicant describes for example a method for producing a board having a surface comprising a decoration, the board consisting of a substrate based on lignocellulose material. In this known method, a previously ground surface which is to be provided with a decoration, in particular a wood decoration, is primed, then smoothed and then printed on directly by means of printing rollers (printing cylinders) using the gravure printing method in order to produce the decoration.
Besides roller printing, digital printing is also used to produce panels comprising decorative surfaces. Thus, for example, WO 98/26936 A1 discloses a method for producing resin-impregnated decorative papers for coating carrier boards. The carrier boards (laminates) coated in this manner are intended in particular for the furniture industry. In the known method, a digital image is printed on resin-impregnated paper by means of a digital printer, in particular a laser printer.
Owing to their high printing speed, roller printing methods are well suited to producing large numbers of decorative panels. With regard to the production of panels, in particular floor panels, roller printing usually involves repeating the printed decoration. The frequency with which the decoration is repeated may in principle be influenced only by the diameter and the length of the printing rollers. However, the two parameters cannot be varied as desired, but are limited for technical reasons. In contrast, digital printing methods have in principle unlimited scope for individualising the decoration. The scope for individualisation basically depends only on the available storage capacity for providing the digital decoration data, the currently available computing power and the creativity of the decoration developer. On the other hand, digital printing is comparatively expensive, since the productivity which can be achieved using a digital printing system is limited and relatively low.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method and a device of the type mentioned at the outset which offer unlimited potential for individualising the decoration at relatively high productivity and favourable production costs.